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Warburton out to excite fans

Date published: Wednesday 22nd July 2015 11:03

The new Ibrox boss was speaking after Tuesday’s 1-0 friendly loss to English Championship side Burnley. Despite the defeat, Warburton was pleased with the performance in his first match in charge in front of a home crowd.

Scott Arfield’s strike just after the half hour mark separated the sides but a positive reception at the final whistle showed the crowd were noticeably impressed with their new-look Rangers side.

Warburton said: “It was tremendous, although I’m disappointed we couldn’t give the supporters a victory. You never want to lose a game of football, but I hope they enjoyed that first half-hour and we gave them a glimpse of what we hope we can do this season.”

“The crowd are going to be a huge part of what we do, and hopefully my programme notes and those sort of outlets can be used to let the crowd know both how much they can help us and how much we appreciate them.”

While winning matches is an obvious way to get the fans on board, the former Brentford boss wants to do it with a philosophy of attractive, attacking football.

“The crowd are going to be a huge part of what we do,” said Warburton. “Hopefully my programme notes and those sort of outlets can be used to let the crowd know both how much they can help us and how much we appreciate them.

““But we have to earn that support, and we do that by playing the game with a good tempo and show good quality. The message to the players is to send the fans home happy.

“I hope they can see what we are trying to do and they can see the quality and commitment shown by the players.”

The match was Rangers’ third of pre-season following a closed door friendly against Spurs and a 2-0 win over Ayr United earlier this month.

Warburton now faces his first competitive game in charge when Rangers take on Championship rivals Hibernian in the Petrofac Training Cup at Easter Road this weekend.

“We look forward to Saturday,” he said. “Hibs are a strong team but we are going there to get the result. We go strong with it, and there is no taking it easy. It is game four leading up to the 7th of August and our first league game.”